Exterior renderings of the planned Multispecies Animal Learning Center. Courtesy of College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences
The College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences is working to revamp the Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory with a Multispecies Animal Learning Center.
The center, which would “bring people and animals together for hands-on learning, public events, and [e]xtension programming,” according to Waterman’s website, has a $52 million fundraising goal. As of this week, Graham Cochran, a professor and associate dean at the college, said that $14 million in funds have been raised.
“If we hit those funding targets, we can finish the design this year in 2023, start construction in 2024 and have [the Multispecies Animal Learning Center] complete by 2025,” Cochran said. “We’re pretty confident that we are going to get there.”
Maurice Eastridge, a professor at the Department of Animal Sciences, said plans for the facility — currently intended to include animal housing, educational venues, research labs and a dairy farm — would help with outreach.
“All of this will be there together to support our on-campus teaching, our outreach and our research,” Eastridge said.
Allison Sanders, an incoming graduate student in animal sciences, said bringing together the various facets of education in agriculture will have many benefits for students.
“I think it’s going to be a great facility to emphasize the teaching and the hands-on learning aspects that our department is already pretty well known for,” Sanders said. “Being able to have these areas where students of all ages can come and learn about every species all in one central location without having to go from place to place is something completely unique to us.”
The development of the center is also an opportunity to get younger students more interested in modern agriculture. Cochran said fewer young people are exposed to careers in the field and many positions are currently unfilled.
“Part of our college’s goal is to expose more young people to those careers in an effort to interest students in those careers and help with the agriculture industry,” Cochran said.
Construction of the center is also part of a bigger vision for Waterman, Cochran said. One of the goals is to bridge the gap between the 261-acre land and the main campus by connecting it to Ohio State’s vision for Carmenton, the university’s new innovation district.
“We think that with a place like Waterman on campus, we can bring not just students but the public to learn about the food system and agriculture,” Cochran said.
Cochran said there is an experiential loop on the north side of the facility where visitors can see agriculture unfold without disturbing the process. The rest of the facility will also be open to access for student tours and programs.
Biosecurity is an important consideration for these more in-depth visits, according to Cochran. A Danish entry, involving switching in and out of more appropriate clothing in sanitation zones, will be implemented for biosecurity of barns with poultry and swine.
The Controlled Environment Agriculture Research Complex, which opened in the fall of 2022, is part of the revamp for Waterman with many research projects including the application of artificial intelligence to a greenhouse, Cochran said.
While Cochran said plans for the facility are on track, there are more efforts that need to be taken for finishing it.
“It’s our highest-level fundraising priority right now,” Cochran said. “We’re working closely with all of our stakeholders right now in as many ways as we can to generate interest, enthusiasm and support for it.”
